The First Sign

The First Sign

John 2:1-11

The Wedding in Cana

1. Jesus, Mary and the Disciples in a Wedding festival – The Invitation (Verse 1 – 2)

A. Jesus did his first messianic sign at a wedding festival

B. Weddings were the biggest and most important celebrations among the Jewish people

C. The weeklong party signaled the social status of the new family in the community

D. Weddings were such joyous occasions that when people wanted to describe the blessings of the messianic age, they often used a wedding banquet as a metaphor

E. Jesus used the image of a wedding banquet to describe the kingdom of God in some of his parables

2. Mary to Jesus – The Petition (Verse 3 – 4)

A. When the wine was gone, Mary told Jesus about it

B. Jesus said to her, "Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come" (Verse 4)

C. Woman: a normal, polite form of address (John 19:26)

D. How does your concern affect me? Literally, "What is this to me and to you?"--a Hebrew expression of either or denial of common interest

E. My hour has not yet come: the translation as a question ("Has not my hour now come?"). The "hour" is that of Jesus’ passion, death, resurrection, and ascension (John 13:1)

3. Mary to the Servants – The Expectation (Verse 5)

A. Mary expected him to do something

B. Whether she expected a miracle, or a quick trip to the nearest wine market, we do not know

C. His mother said to the servers, "Do whatever he tells you"

4. Jesus to the Servants – The Transformation (Verse 6 – 7)

A. Now, it so happened that six stone water containers stood nearby, and they were not regular water jars

B. John tells us—they were the kind the Jews used for ceremonial washing

C. This seems to be a significant part of the story

D. Jesus was going to transform some water used in Jewish ceremonies

E. This symbolized a transformation in Judaism, even the fulfillment of ceremonial washings

F. The spiritual cleansing of Jesus’ blood superseded ritual washings

G. Jesus has fulfilled the rituals and replaced them with something much better—himself

5. Jesus to His Disciples – The Glorification (Verse 8 – 11)

A. The servants drew some wine out and took it to the headwaiter

B. The headwaiter told the bridegroom, “Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now”

C. John records these words as a symbolic significance

D. The Jews were like people who had been drinking wine (performing ritual washings) so long that they could not recognize when something better came along

E. When Mary said, “They have no more wine” (Verse 3), it symbolized the fact that the Jews had no spiritual meaning left in their ceremonies

F. Jesus was bringing something new and something better

G. Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs in Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him (Verse 11)